Additive manufacturing techniques, such as three-dimensional (3D) printing, are rapidly being adopted as useful techniques for a number of different applications, including rapid prototyping and fabrication of specialty components. Examples of 3D printing include powder-based printing, fused deposition modeling (FDM), and stereolithography (SLA).
Photopolymer-based 3D printing technology (e.g., stereolithography) may produce a 3D structure in a layer-by-layer fashion by using light to selectively cure polymeric precursors into a polymeric material within a photoactive resin. Photopolymer-based 3D printers that use bottom up illumination may project light upwards through an optically transparent window of a vat containing photoactive resin to cure at least a portion of the resin. Such printers may build a 3D structure by forming one layer at a time, where a subsequent layer adheres to the previous layer.